Old Gods speculation
This article contains theories and speculation related to the Old Gods. Creative inspiration It is suspected that The Old Gods are partially based on the legends of the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods, creations from the legend of Cthulhu written by H.P. Lovecraft. The Imprisoned Gods' Locations References to Old Gods in lore place their prisons, manifestations, or spawn at the following locations: 1. One was located in Darkshore, apparently slain by the Titans with the Master's Glaive. This one may just be an Old God's minion . 2. One was C'Thun, long believed dead by hand of the Titans, but recently defeated in Ahn'Qiraj. 3. One was believed to have been defeated by Arthas and Anub'arak in Azjol-Nerub. 4. One is trapped beneath Tirisfal Glades. 5. One is beneath the Maelstrom, the former site of the Well of Eternity. 6. It is believed that one or more Old Gods died in Desolace and the remains can be found in the Valley of Bones (see below). 7. The forest trolls of Zul'Aman have tried to summon the 'Old God', Ula-Tek. 8. Jungle trolls of Zul'Gurub have attempted to summon Hakkar the Soulflayer, their 'Old God' or the son of an 'Old God'. *Nobody knows for sure how many of the Old Gods still exist. During the events of The Sundering, three were believed to exist. Other sources say five. More may exist and be yet undiscovered. Whether the Old Gods are limited in number is unknown, for they have been able to extend manifestations in multiple locations and dimensions at once. **The Arakkoa in Shadowmoon Valley are attempting to summon an what appears to be an Old God to Outland. The ancient and powerful evil looks exactly the same as C'Thun. **Another theory is that the Titans only believed three Old Gods existed, for they thought that the Darkshore Old God as well as C'Thun were both dead. *One of the Old Gods is involved with the Nightmare of the Emerald Dream, but which of these is involved is unknown (although C'Thun has been eliminated as a suspect on the WoW forums). **''Malfurion Stormrage says: I fear for the worst, old friend. Within the Dream we fight a new foe, born of an ancient evil. Ysera's noble brood has fallen victim to the old whisperings. It seems as if the Nightmare has broken through the realm to find a new host on Azeroth.'' **''Eranikus, Tyrant of the Dream yells: My redemption? You are bold, little one. My redemption comes by the will of my god.'' *It is believed that one of imprisoned Old Gods is located beneath the Tirisfal Glades. When the high elves first landed on the Lordaeron continent, they encountered a strange force. ** Forging inland, the high elves founded a settlement within the tranquil Tirisfal Glades. After a few years, many of them began to go mad. It was theorized that something evil slept beneath that particular part of the world, but the rumors were never proven to be true. *Another theory is that one of the Old Gods is imprisoned beneath or near the Maelstrom, where he commands the naga. The naga, led by the monstrosity that was once Queen Azshara, were mutated from their night elf forms by the Old Gods at the formation of the Maelstrom during the Sundering of the World. ** In the Warcraft novel Day of the Dragon, page 202 mentions a creature known as the Manta, Behemoth of the Deep. Krasus says it was "ten times the size and strength of a dragon." It was slain at least a century before the events of Day of the Dragon. It is possible this Manta is somehow linked to the Old Gods and the Naga. **It is believed that the ancient Sundering awakened something that dwelled in the deepest part of the ocean, something that will eventually burst forth in a tidal wave of destruction. *Due to its strong resemblance to C'Thun, many believe that the Forgotten One (see below) from Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was an Old God. The Forgotten One was killed by Arthas. However, some think also The Forgotten One, and C'Thun himself are just a part of the Old God, possibly it's eyes (Eye of C'Thun). *It is possible that one is imprisoned underneath Teldrassil due to the rapid contamination of the new world tree which is too fast to be just the fact that it has not been blessed by the dragons. Star Theory *Speculation referred to as the "Star Theory" Suggests that the Old Gods locations can be shown as a star on Azeroth. starting from Stranglethorn Vale, up to Northrend, down to Silithus, up to Tirisfal, and across to Darkshore. This places the Well of Eternity in the centre of the star. Hyjal can be explained by the Centre of the "Star of Azeroth". This also explains the legions focus on Azeroth. Led by Sargaras, who despises the Titans and Order, may see the Old Gods as a way to destroy Azeroth. (All this Information was thought up in a World of Warcraft forum topic) *However, the Star Theory assumes much and provides little in the way of explanation. First, it ignores the known manifestation of the Maelstrom Old God. Second, the present day locations of the Old Gods are not the same locations when they were imprisoned, long before the Sundering. Third, the existence of the "SE Old God" is unknown and speculative. Hakkar may be an Old God or simply a minion, but even if he is an Old God, he was not always located in Stranglethorn Vale. He was summoned there. Forgotten ones The forgotten ones are massive and powerful tentacle-bearing aberrations living in the deepest reaches of Azjol-Nerub. Forgotten ones seethe below, eager to return to the world above. One of these ancient, terrible beasts lay imprisoned beneath Azjol-Nerub, until Illidan's attempt to melt away the polar ice-caps surrounding Icecrown and crush Ner'zhul, accidentally broke the beast's prison. Before it could act. however, Arthas Menethil, Anub'arak, and a small army of undead nerubians crashed into its prison, and after a most epic battle, Arthas managed to slay it. It might be suggested that "A Forgotten One", as Anub'arak referred to it, is in fact an Old God, or portion of an Old God; one of the three imprisoned by the Titans. Here follow some: *When it comes to its physical form, C'Thun is virtually identical to it. Also, glimpses of Old Gods in Knaak's "The War of the Ancients" are of huge tentacles, such as the ones of C'Thun and the one in Azjol'Nerub. This hints that all Old Gods are multi-eyed, multi-mawed and tentacled pink blobs in physical form. That the "Forgotten One" would have this appearance and NOT be an Old God is far-fetched. *It is very possible that the term "Forgotten One" is what nerubians call Old Gods in general. First, Anub'arak called it "a Forgotten One", not "the Forgotten One", which means that there are several. Second, the sight of it scared the crap out of even the monstrous Anub'arak. So we have an ancient, terrible evil creature that scares even the scariest of monsters, and there are more of it, and it has the appearance of an Old God, an appearance not shared by anything else known in the Warcraft universe. Would someone really oppose the contested fact that this is indeed an Old God? *The Forgotten One commanded the Faceless Ones. C'Thun also commands units that appear to be Faceless Ones, like General Rajaxx. Faceless Ones may be a general name for Old God's most elite of minions. *It has been confirmed at BlizzCon that an old god is in Azjol-Nerub. Some can hardly believe that the Forgotten One is an Old God, because it was killed by Arthas. Arguments in support include: *Old Gods are entities that were able to stand up to the nearly omnipotent Titans. *C'Thun was only defeated because he was in a severely weakened state, by a raid of forty powerful and prepared people. *Relatively, the Forgotten One showed no signs of weakness, and Arthas and Anub'arak were just two unprepared and weakened heroes supported only by a handful of regular undead troops. However, ''- if you compare 40 'heroes' in WoW to a hero in WC3 you can notice that almost every WC3 hero is nowadays a raid encounter in WoW, which would indicate that you could say that there were two raid bosses against one. Plus taking in count that at that point Arthas was already considerably strong and Anub'arak is propably way stronger than Anub'Rekhan, who can be faced in Naxxramas...'' It is possible that the Forgotten One tried to do the same to the Nerubian Empire that C'Thun did to Ahn'Qiraj, but eventually failed. SPECULATION: It is possible that this "Forgotten One" is trans-dimensional, or by experiencing death was able to enter the Emerald Dream somehow, which would account for the only recent corruption of the Emerald Dream. It could also be theorized that it is a "projection" of C'Thun, since the WC3 version looks incredibly similar and spawns tentacles to attack. C'Thun could have attempted to influence control over both the Silithid and Nerubians at the same time to try and raise his army, but while the C'Thun managed to control the Silithid, the Nerubians (with their natural tolerance to mind control) were not swayed and the C'Thun projection was sealed away within the depths of Azjol'nerub. But that theory is based on C'Thun using a projection-ability not mentioned anywhere else, and leaves another Old God unaccounted for. It is then more probable that "The Forgotten One" was an Old God in his own right. Or it could be that C'Thun was split during the Sundering, half going to Northrend and the other half staying in Kalimdor. This would explained for both forms weakness. Another possibility is that the Forgotten One was created by C'Thun in his image, in an attempt to create an army to conquer the Nerubians, in order to re-join the old insectoid empire. The fact that Arthas managed to defeat this 'avatar' with relative ease supports this theory. Defeating The Old Gods Many people find it hard to swallow that, as with all bosses in WoW, mortals can kill an Old God. There are two theories regarding the matter. Mortals Can Kill Old Gods The Old God in Darkshore was apparently killed by the Titans long before the dawn of mortals. The rest were either believed to be slain or imprisoned. It might be that killing of other known Old Gods, such as the Forgotten One and C'Thun, can be achieved because these Old Gods were in a severely weakened and regenerative state from their previous conflicts, and were just making their way back onto the world stage. For example, the Titans smote C'Thun ages ago, but he regenerated sufficient strength to start the War of the Shifting Sands before being struck down once again. It is possible that, after these conflicts, C'Thun was only able to regenerate to a fragment of his former strength. This would explain how modern warriors from the Horde and Alliance were able to kill him in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. This also coincides with the reoccurring theme that the important heroes of Warcraft are all mortals who have found ways to defeat the undefeatable. Old Gods Can Never Be Killed However, it is also possible that Old Gods cannot be permanently killed--their alien evil may only be contained. For example, the Old God or minion in Darkshore was left impaled upon the gigantic Master's Glaive. Had the Titans been able to truly kill an Old God, they likely would have removed the powerful weapon and slain the other Old Gods as well. That the Glaive was left behind suggests that the Old God may regenerate upon its removal as hoped for by the Twilight's Hammer, much like in some fantasy settings, the removal of a stake from a vampire's heart allows it to regenerate. That the majority of Old Gods were simply imprisoned by the all-powerful Titans also suggests that they are unkillable. The fact that some NPCs within World of Warcraft assert that an Old God was killed by the Titans can be easily explained away by the ideas that 1) the event occurred long before any mortal could have possibly recorded it, and 2) the powers and natures of the Old Gods and Titans are admittedly beyond any mortal's scope of understanding. Moreover, the theme that death is not the end is frequently raised in Warcraft. Many other powerful figures have survived "death" in Warcraft lore. Cenarius is more than a mere spirit within the Emerald Dream, despite having been "slain." Ragnaros is still alive, as players are only able to slay a weakened avatar. Living satyrs were born from the destroyed Night Elf, Xavius. Also note the entirety of the Scourge. C'thun may also be very much "alive," as the "C'Thun" destroyed by players was a physical shell constructed for him by the Qiraji. The Origin of the Silithid and Qiraji * C'Thun created avatars from the Silithid in his own image. These avatars would become known as the Qiraji. * The Azj'Aqir kingdom split, when the Aqir war with the Gurubashi and Amani Troll empires ended. The exact reasons are unknown. They then became known as the Qiraji and Nerubians. * Thus the Aqir were part of the Silithid race. Some suggest the Aqir were the avatars who then later evolved into the Qiraji, while another possbility is that C'Thun created the Qiraji from the Silithid directly, and that the Aqir and Silithid are one in the same. * Theories suggest that the Qiraji were created by C'Thun from the Silithid to control them, but this is uncertain. * The Qiraji bear a slight resemblance to the Faceless Ones from a Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne campaign. Factions of the old gods * The naga and Azshara seem to work for an Old God. * The Nerubians cleaely worship an Old God in their ruined kingdom. * The Faceless Ones from Azjol-Nerub also worship the Forgoten One who is presumed to be an Old God. * The Gurubashi Trolls bought Hakkar to Azeroth, Hakkar is presumed to be an Old God. * The Black Dragonflight and Deathwing also seem to be under influence of the Old Gods. * Sargeras himself might be manipulated by an Old God, as it would have greatly helped him when he turned his back on the Titans. * Qiraji worship the only yet killable Old God, C'thun. * The Arakkoa try to summon a presumed Old God to Draenor. If these specualtions are right, the old gods plans are far deeper then the younger races of Azeroth may even think of. Desolace The Valley of Bones are littered with what is believed to be bones of the Old Gods, presided over by Magram centaur necromancers and skeletons. In Desolace, the massive corpses of two combatants lay forever facing each other on two sides of a grand valley. It has been speculated that these bones are either Old Gods or Faceless Ones, although they most resemble Nagas, despite their huge scale. It should be noted that there's skeleton of a massive naga-resembling beast near the coast of Stranglethorn Vale so it is more likely that these were similar. A Goblin named Hornizz Brimbuzzle in the Kodo Graveyard provides a quest that refers to these corpses as Dead Goliaths. The quest has nothing to do with the corpses. He just uses them as a landmark. Avatar of the Old Gods? There is much controversy surrounding the fact that Arthas, alone aside from Anub'Arak, and severely weakened, managed to kill an Old God. This leads many to the belief that he killed an "avatar" of an Old God, an extension of it, a sort of disposable body... while the Old God's mind was occupying said body, the actual god was still deep in its prison. Some may argue that they were defeated so easily because they were in a regenerative state, and this is entirely possible, however all alternatives must be considered. Following this theory to its logical conclusion, we can now wonder: did we actually kill C'Thun? Or was it just another fake body, another extension of its mind? No clear evidence exists to justify nor nullify this theory... so it remains a mystery, for the moment. Old Gods and Expansion Speculation If the theories mentioned above regarding the location of the Old Gods is true, then they would most likely be implemented one by one in various expansions. Check the Rumored Expansions for some of the possible settings for future expansions. *Perhaps, one Old God would be implemented in an in-game content patch, similar to C'Thun, possibly in Tirisfal Glades, as evidence points this being the location of an old God. As stated earlier, the region west of Deathknell is large enough to support a large instance, similar to the southern parts of Silithus before the Ahn'Qiraj patch. *Another Old God would be implemented as the final boss for the Emerald Dream rumored expansion, as it is verified that an Old God is responsible for the Nightmare. Whether or not the players would kill a Dream Aspect of some sorts of the Old God, or his corporeal form (possibly still on Azeroth, "sleeping", or both, would have to be decided on. Although, Tigole made references in -03 to having "ran around" in the Emerald dream, indicating that th Emerald Dream is at least partly finished. However, that was several years ago, and there's no telling what's been continued on and what's not. It is also possible that the Emerald Dream won't be an expansion in it's own sense (Like The Burning Crusade), but rather part of a significant patch (Like Naxxramas in 1.11). (although we should bear in mind thta blizzard are running out on things to base exapnsions on so it'll propably be an expansion.) *Finally, the third Old God would be found in the Maelstrom with the Naga, as it is also certified that Highborne loyal to Azshara were turned into Naga by an Old God so they could survive the Sundering. It is likely they now serve the Old God, but it is also quite possible that they instead serve Neptulon. The order in which these Old Gods were implemented would obviously depend on the order Blizzard released these rumored expansions. Category:Old Gods Teldrassil It could be possible that the Old God who possibly was under the Teldrassil, drained the power to get into Emerald Dream from the tree and so it decayed. Wrath of the Lich King A blue post on the forums recently said that the Nerubians were "followers of the Old Gods on Northrend." This implies that not only will we be facing an Old God in Northrend, but in fact 2 or more, hence the pluralization. - Or, that they are followers of the Old Gods in general, and located in Northrend. Another Possible Speculation One is in Maelstrom, One is C'thun (dead), One is the master's glaive (dead), One is under Trisfal, and One is in Northrend with the nerubians. Explanation: The Old God under trisfal could be the one responsible for the Emerald Dream's Corruption, because if you recall when Malfurion and Tyrande first entered Trisfal, Malfurion asked to be left alone s that he could attempt to heal the forest. Perhaps his vision, when he saw his brother being the cause of the forest's corruption was false, and the land was really simply calling out because of the current threat (Illidan's tearing the world apart). Maybe if Malfurion would have been in Trisfal while the event with Illidan was not happening, he would have understood the land's corruption was due to the Old God, and during Malfurion's vision, some entity of that god followed Malfurion to the Emerald Dream, thus causing the Nightmare. The one in Northrend was awoken by Illidan's treachery and feigned death against Arthas and the Crypt Lord, in an attempt to get them out to rebuild his force, and make a new attempt at power on Azeroth. The Bones in Desolace are possibly actually 2 of the elemental god's, and are also the reason for the new World Tree's exponentially large growth rate, because they were earthen elementals. The on in Maelstrom is obviously the reason for the corruption of the High Elves in to Naga.